Golf notes: Farmers Open changes track for amateur qualifier

Tournament will take U.S. Am winner, ending local qualifying event

It was not the easiest call for Farmers Insurance Open Tournament Director Peter Ripa, getting away from a nice local tradition to one that he believed would make the event stronger in coming years. But sticking with his “no sacred cows” policy, Ripa has eliminated the 27-year-old amateur qualifying tournament for the Farmers.

Instead, the winner of the U.S. Amateur Championship will receive an invitation to play in the Farmers at Torrey Pines, beginning with the 2013 edition.

“It was a difficult decision,” said Ripa, who is taking over the reins from 20-year tournament director Tom Wilson. “Internally, we’ve had to make a number of difficult decisions to be better. We want to be among the elite tournaments on the PGA Tour, and you want to make sure things are done for the right reasons.

“If we’re going to provide an opportunity for an amateur, we want the best objective to measure their overall body of work. I just didn’t feel like the (amateur qualifier) was the best use of that spot.”

The winner of the U.S. Amateur currently receives invitations to play in the Masters, U.S. Open and two PGA Tour events: the Memorial, hosted by Jack Nicklaus, and Arnold Palmer Invitational.

In Ripa’s estimation, the U.S. Amateur is a far more rigorous test than one 18-hole qualifying round in a field of 100 at Torrey Pines each October. The Amateur has local and sectional qualifying, followed by the tournament itself, which has two rounds of stroke play followed by match play.

“You know that you’re going to have a guy who earned his way there, as opposed to somebody having one good round of golf on Torrey South,” Ripa said.

Buoying Ripa’s decision is the fact that among the 47 players who have advanced though the amateur qualifier, only three have made the cut and none since 1996: Pat Duncan finished 50th in 1986, Steve Haase was 75th in 1989, and Charley Hoffman, a three-time amateur qualifier, was 76th in ‘96.

Of the amateur qualifiers, Hoffman, Phil Mickelson, Chris Riley, Dennis Paulson, Todd Demsey and Bob May went on to play on the PGA Tour.

The recent problem, Ripa said, is that the amateur qualifier has not attracted a field of top college players. Ripa said in the past couple of years only three NCAA third-team All-Americans have entered: USD’s Alex Ching, San Diego State’s J.J. Spaun, and Cal State Northridge’s Nick Delio. None of the three won the qualifier.

“If the field was stacked with college All-Americans and top players from the area, we might have felt differently,” Ripa said.

The U.S. Amateur, staged by U.S. Golf Association, is the most coveted title in amateur golf and is staged each summer at rotating venues. If the winner decides to turn pro, Ripa said he likely would still be invited to the Farmers.

A top amateur can still qualify for the Farmers, but would have to advance through a pre-qualifying tournament to get into the Monday qualifier of tournament week. Four players advance to the Farmers from the Monday qualifier.

The amateur spot is one of two unrestricted positions that Ripa has to use each year. This year, the other position was given to Ryo Ishikawa, the Japanese star who wasn’t a member of the PGA Tour.

More Farmers changes

Among the other changes, according to Ripa, that will be made for the Farmers Open in 2013:

-- Children 17 and under will be admitted free. The previous limit was 15 years old.

-- Retired military will be admitted free. Previously, only active military received the privilege.

-- The age for a senior discount will be lowered from 60 to 55.

-- Parking will be lowered from $20 to $15 (or $10 if purchased in advance).

Chip-in

The Carlsbad Golf Center will offer free golf clinics this week for beginners during "Welcome to Golf Month." The clinics are on Thursday from 5 p.m. to 6 pm. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Balls and clubs are free. For more information, go to carlsbadgolfcenter.com.